


The Drop

by B2Min



Category: NU'EST
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 21:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14839380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/B2Min/pseuds/B2Min
Summary: Prompt from @Ater_uwu_Morkov:Minhyun sets up a goodie box support for Cassiopeias but whenever he goes to check it it's always empty.turns out a homeless Dongho is taking all the stuff and he Feels Really Bad About It but he will also Starve And Die if he doesn't





	The Drop

Minhyun wasn’t sure what he expected to see when he had that CCTV set up.

All he knew was that someone (or more than one someone) was cleaning out the box that was meant for Cassiopeias. Not even a Post-It with a ‘thank you’ on it.

Well, not quite cleaning out the box. Whoever it was left the encouraging notes he had painstakingly written behind, while taking away food or anythingelse that could be sold.

The whole point of the box’s existence was for it to be a pick-me-up, a spot TVXQ fans could find a token to remind them they weren’t alone. But it was pointless if it just became someone’s personal treasure trove.

It wasn’t just Minhyun filling it up after all. There were other Cassies who also dropped their own little treasures inside and while some part of Minhyun hoped it was just a fan who’d gotten a little greedy, or maybe someone collecting stuff to pass along, he knew it was more than likely just a thief.

He wasn’t expecting the thief to be, well, so handsome.

The CCTV he installed wasn’t anything as fancy as a dedicated camera - it was just someone’s old iPhone connected to WiFi, taped to a flowerpot on a convenient window ledge.

It worked well enough to show just who his pilferer was - a teenager from the looks of it.

The jacket he wore looked threadbare - his jeans faded, and not in a stylish way. His sneakers, Minhyun was sure, were probably worn down to the sole.

But his face…Minhyun just couldn’t get over the boy’s face. There was something about it, a softness that still showed despite the angularness of his cheekbones. Eyes that were too sad for someone his age and, if the camera wasn’t lying, a clear light brown. A brown Minhyun wanted to see up close.

Sure, at first glance, this stranger looked a bit scary. You had to keep looking, though. And Minhyun did. Watched as the boy carefully peeped through the box, neatly arranging the notes in a corner, while looking through the rest of the contents.

It was hard for Minhyun not to feel anything but pity, seeing the Brown-Eyed Boy (as he’d started calling him in his head) first take a bite of a candy bar as though it was his first meal of the day. Then quickly taking what else was worth hoarding into a little plastic bag he’d fished out of his pocket.

Seeing how the boy seemed to know just when the box was filled (twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays) Minhyun knew that all he needed to do was wait for Thursday to come, to meet him. Now all he had to do was figure out just what to say.

He’d waited, just around the time the Boy had appeared on his CCTV. Late afternoon, just before six.

The boy had looked at him with surprise, a little consternation, before his expression turned into one of resignation. As if he’d been expecting to be caught out.

“Hi.” Minhyun thought that was as good a start as any.

“Hi.” The man answered back, then stared at Minhyun. Saying nothing, waiting.

“I know…you’ve been taking the stuff from the box. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to, like, give it back or anything. I just thought that maybe, you need help? At least more help than a fan giveaway box can offer.”

The man looked back at him, his stare still intent.

Minhyun wasn’t expecting the boy to start tearing up, however.

But that was what happened.

“I’m sorry….” The stranger said. “I…just didn’t know what else to do, or where to go. Was looking for someone, but he’d moved, and I couldn’t reach him and, well, I found the box. It helped because I really didn’t have anything by then.”

“It’s OK,” Minhyun said. “I get it. I’m Minhyun, by the way. Hwang Minhyun. What’s your name?”

“Dongho. Kang Dongho.”

“You don’t have family or friends around here? I’m guessing not, seeing how you relied on this box of all things.”

“My folks passed on recently. I had one uncle in Busan so I decided to come find him. Stupid, huh? I didn’t even think of trying to call first - I just assumed he’d still be at the same address he was last. Used the last bit of my money to get here from Jeju.”

A small town boy, stranded in Busan with no money or family.

Seemed almost too inplausible to be true, but Minhyun believed Dongho. So maybe he was impulsive, didn’t think things through. But desperate people didn’t always make the best decisions, no?

Nothing else for it then. “Why don’t you come back with me? I’m sure my parents would know what to do. How old are you anyway?”

“16 in July.”

“Huh. We’re the same age then. But I’ll be 16 in August.”

Dongho was reluctant, but there seemed no way around it. He didn’t want to go to the police and he was far too proud to beg on the street, and too honest to steal.

Minhyun was pretty sure his parents wouldn’t be mad - or at least, he could deal with it if they were. Better to apologise later than ask for permission right? Or something like that, he’d heard.

His parents were a little surprised, to be sure, when their youngest son brought a scruffy boy back home. Minhyun had friends, they knew, but he wasn’t the type to bring them over or spend much time going out with them. He was more keen on spending his time alone with his books and daydreams, which frankly worried them more than they would let on.

Minhyun was more worried about his older sister and how she would react. Suujin, to her credit, had only sniffed and side-eyed both her brother and his ‘guest’ but had said nothing.

He didn’t want her to make Dongho feel uncomfortable.

Minhyun’s parents at least were gentle and accommodating, doing their best to put Dongho at ease. His mother had insisted on feeding Dongho first, the latter proving ever so grateful, thanking her and Minhyun’s father profusely in-between mouthfuls.

When Dongho had told Minhyun’s father his uncle’s name, though not sure what good that would do, Minhyun’s father frowned, saying he’d make a few calls. Minhyun’s mother was already fussing, telling Minhyun to get his new friend fresh clothes and to draw him a bath.

Minhyun found that a newly-showered Dongho in a nice pair of jeans (a pair Minhyun had to put aside after a sudden growth spurt) and a new-ish t-shirt actually, really…cute.

God, why was he thinking this boy was cute of all things.

“You really didn’t have to be so nice to me, Minhyun-ssi.” Dongho smiled at Minhyun. A smile that was, again, so soft, it made Minhyun feel a weird sort of pain looking at it.

Minhyun just shrugged in reply. “If getting my parents to feed you will keep you out of the Cassiopeia box, then the sacrifice is worth it.”

Dongho just laughed. A high, tittery laugh, that Minhyun, again, just didn’t expect from him.

“Minhyun-ah! Could you and Dongho come down please?” Minhyun heard his mother call from downstairs.

When they’d come down, Minhyun’s father was holding out the phone receiver to Dongho. “Someone wants to talk to you.”

Ah, how funny the world can be. Of the many, many Kangs in Busan, Minhyun’s father had actually worked with Dongho’s uncle before. They’d kept in touch sporadically after the latter moved to Seoul but the most important thing was that Dongho’s uncle knew where he was, and wanted to come and get him.

“It’s going to be OK, Dongho-ya.” It seemed too easy, to say Dongho’s name so casually. But well, what else was Minhyun going to do when Dongho had fully turned on the waterworks, weeping in obvious relief?

And later, that night, Dongho promised he’d make it up to Minhyun someday. That they’d be friends forever and ever and ever.

That was the last time they would meet for the next two years.

It was just how things worked. Minhyun was finishing up his schooling in Busan, while Dongho got into a performing arts school in Seoul.

They’d kept in touch - writing letters, calling once in a while. Again, Minhyun learning things he wasn’t expecting. That Dongho used to have a neighbour who would give Dongho music - piano and vocal - classes for free. A retired idol who preferred to teach instead, until he too moved to Seoul. Dongho had been dumb and forgotten his Seoul address and number.

“You’re so dumb, Dongho-ya.”

“Yah, but if I wasn’t so dumb I wouldn’t have met you, right?”

“You’re so dumb, you needed me.”

“I’ll always need you, Minhyun-ah. Just don’t let your head get any bigger after telling you that.”

And then they’d turned 18, and Minhyun had decided to move to Seoul to start university.

If his university had coincidentally not been too far from where Dongho lived with his uncle, well, that’s just how life worked, right?

Dongho had cajoled him into moving in with him instead of getting his own place. His uncle didn’t even want Minhyun paying any rent, saying “Just buy us a nice meal once in a while, that’ll be good enough.”

While Minhyun was going to be attending university full-time, Dongho would be dividing time between his own university classes and trying to get his own performing career going. He’d met a boy named Jonghyun, who wanted to be a rapper and the two of them were going to debut as a duo if things panned out.

“They wanted us to debut earlier, Minhyun-ah, but my uncle wouldn’t have it. Said we needed to live ordinary lives for as long as possible and not get trapped in the ‘idol bubble’ as he called it. My old singing teacher agreed with him.”

“Your uncle sounds wise.”

“Yeah. I’m lucky he looks out for me, and he knows people in the industry. Wants me to be as good at stuff like producing, composing, coaching…so I won’t have to rely so much on my own comebacks.”

“The idol industry is super-competitive. One agency scouted me some time before I met you, but, well, I wasn’t ready. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision.”

“Well, you met me, right? Wasn’t that a great thing?”

Minhyun just laughed. “I wonder about that sometimes.”

He could hear Dongho’s laugh on the other line. “You know you love me.”

Yes, Dongho, I do. And that’s the problem.

It was nerve-wracking, to arrive at Seoul, to see Dongho after years of only talking on the phone or letters. Because Dongho’s schedules had just never aligned with his to let them meet. And now the first thing they were doing was just moving in together.

“Hi.”

Just like Minhyun had greeted Dongho all those years ago.

Minhyun had thought he’d be prepared, to see again, up close those clear brown eyes that hid nothing and to Minhyun, were everything.

He wasn’t.

This time there wasn’t timid handshaking or waving. It was Dongho’s arms around Minhyun, hugging him fiercely.

When had Dongho gotten so tall? His shoulders so broad?

“Is your uncle here?”

“Nah,” Dongho shook his head. “He’s working, so it’s just me. Managed to persuade him to let me fix up this old car he’d inherited from my dad. You should see it! It’s great!”

Yes, Dongho’s car was nice. Roomy, with character. Not flashy but just…comfortable. As comfortable as Minhyun felt with Dongho despite the years apart, despite on the surface there being nothing they really had in common.

The drive to Dongho’s place seemed both too short and too long. It was nice, being able to talk in person and finding it so much easier than he’d imagined, hanging out in person.

Would it all change once they started having to see each other’s faces all the time?

“So,” Dongho said, once Minhyun’s things had been sorted out and he’d been properly moved in. “What do you feel like doing now?”

Kiss you senseless, maybe. “I don’t know…watch something on TV? Catch a movie? Hang out at a cafe?”

“I’m feeling kinda lazy. Let’s just hang out in bed and order takeout.”

Hang out in bed? “OK…I think?”

Dongho’s idea of hanging out in bed apparently meant just chilling out in their double bed. “Sorry was too busy to go get you another bed. We could probably fit another smaller queen in here, if it was an IKEA…” “No hurry, really.”

Minhyun with a book, Dongho messing around on his phone - swiping through Instagram, looking at things on Naver. It felt comfortable and as though they’d been doing it forever.

Until, of course Dongho, put an arm around Minhyun’s shoulder. “Hey Minhyun-ah, look at this fox video. Doesn’t it look like you?”

Minhyun scrunched his nose. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I look like a fox.”

“Well, foxes are supposed to be alluring.”

“Are you saying you’re under my spell, Dongho-yah?” Minhyun said, teasingly.

“Maybe.”

The silence was so loud Minhyun was pretty sure the neighbours could hear Minhyun swallowing.

“You like to say I’m stupid, Minhyun-ah. But I think some things are so obvious I don’t know why I have to say them aloud.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Hah. Well, I know that you like me.”

“Is that… a problem?”

“Nah. Only if I didn’t like you too. It’s a good thing I do.”

“I’m lucky then.”

“Yes, you are.”

And as Dongho turned to Minhyun, resting their foreheads together, Minhyun thought that he really was the luckiest man in the world, to gamble on a thief…and win.

 

 


End file.
